Daughters 240D overheated on the way home from college
 

Water pump/alternator belt broke on my daughters car on her way home from college. We had the car towed home the rest of the way. I was in Phoenix on a trip when I found out. I'll have to investigate why it broke. It was 6 months old. We did replace the alternator last fall. Maybe we damaged it then. Hopefuly the engine is ok. She noticed the alternator light on and the temp pegged high right after a puff of steam came out from under the hood. Pulled off the highway and shut it down.
Tomorrow we'll see what we can do.

Dave

Good luck Dave, and keep us posted. Where does your daughter go to college? My oldest daughter is at UTA, and while it's not that far of a drive I always worry. Neither her or her mother would consider an older MB. Too bad, it would be a lot safer than her little Focus.

I wish people noticed warning lights...I swear it was not coincendence that MB shared the water pump and alternator belts. YOu loose your water pump you loose your alternator and you get a signal on the dash saying...stop.

It shoudl be okay though...I imagine the puff of steam was the rad. cap letting some pressure loose?
Hopefully its nothing more than adding some new belts

My daughter goes to Texas A&M in College Station. She was in traffic just north of West on I-35. We live in Colleyville in the DFW area.

I do agrree that it is nice to have the Alternator light come on with the loss of the belt. Those smart Germans. :sun_smile

Dave

It would be a LOT nicer if a Buzzer came on also.... that is why critical warning signals on airplanes have buzzers... pretty much instantaneous recognition....

The thing is, in a car the worst is you pull over to the curb and call for help.
In a plane you dont just pull over to the side of the road. I wonder if a buzzer in the plane going off means its TFL? :eek:

Well looked at the car this morning.
The water pump/alternator belt was toast. Looks like it failed, not 100% sure of that but thats what it seems like. Its a Gates belt from O'reilly's, they replaced it for free. Also talked to the dealer W123 specialist. He instructed me on what to look for, I did and everythign looks fine as far as pullys go and such. he also mentioned that the Gates belts are fine and that sumtimes a belt just fails. He had one fail in the first 10 mins of use on his truck, So it happens.
Now the bad news. the lack of a water pump caused a over pressure and the top plastic part of the radiator cracked. So its time for a new radiator.


Dave

PS Started the car and drove it up the driveway, ran fine so hopefully the radiator and belt are the only damages.

It might be a good idea to send in an oil sample to see if any coolant is in the oil.

"The thing is, in a car the worst is you pull over to the curb and call for help."

It would be nice if that were the ' worst' ....

But someone driving along that does not look at the dash regularly may overheat the engine before pulling over....a buzzer will get attention fast.

The oil sample might not be a bad idea.

These iron head engines are REALLY tough when overheated. Although I'm sure it didn't help the engine any, I expect that it won't be seriously hurt.

Dave I have a couple of radiators that I picked up at the MB salvage yard scramble several years ago. I have not pressure tested them or anything, but they look good. You are welcome to one of them if you want it. Let me know if you're interested. We have to keep that Aggies car on the road.

Good luck with it,

Larry
thank you for the offer. were going to buy the Valeo unit new. That way Daddy wont have to worry about her drivng back and forth.

Dave

Dmorrison,

What is a Valeo unit? Maybe a brass/copper replacement radiator?

P E H

Dave,

I totally understand. These daughters are pretty precious cargo.

Keep us posted as to how the engine turns out.

Good luck,

My experience has been that these engines are as tough as it gets. My '83 300D lost its alternator pulley because the lame mechanic (me) did not tighten it properly. This was at 65 mph. In a few minutes the temp was very high and we were not charging. Continued on with only the heater circulation pump moving water. Did this for 50+ miles!! Trailered the car back home and replaced pulley and belts. That was at least 30k miles ago and we have had no ill effects. Currently at 384k miles and running ok. Car looks like the devil, but some how I can't part with it. I just try to keep up with the maintenance on it. Ya gotta love a 123.

A number of years ago I was on I 30 between Texarkana and Hope, Arkansas headed toward a meeting in Little Rock dressed in a suit and in my trusty old 240D. About 20 miles from Hope(Bill Clintons birthplace) the alternator light came on. I stopped and looked to find the alternator/water pump belt broken. This is the only belt that would ever break because it is the last one to come off.

I cranked it back up and drove into an auto supply in Hope. The temp didn't get much over 100 C, assumedly due to the water pump turning due to the fan "windmilling."

I got a belt and asked the guys if it was okay if I tore it apart in their parking lot. They were very friendly and helpful. I had enough tools and such, so I stripped to my pants and shoes and tore into it. I called ahead to tell them I might be late and left the ignition on and windows rolled down so I could here my car phone.

In spite of handling a few phone calls in the process, I got done and the guys in the parts house let me scrub up in their restroom and I got dressed and got the heck out of Hope before Bill Clinton had the chance to show up.

I was a little late to my meeting and the guys were amazed that I made the meeting at all. I actually thought the whole experience was kind of interesting and I felt alot of pride because I was able to take care of this on my own with almost no interruption of business as usual.

There's alot to be said for an iron head engine.

Have a great day,